


Get the Jumper Cables

by razboinicul_iernii



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Anxiety, Avengers Family, Avengers Tower, Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Food, Friendship, Gen, Particularly with electricity, Phobias, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-09 21:18:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18646285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/razboinicul_iernii/pseuds/razboinicul_iernii
Summary: Thor wants to make friends with Bucky. Easy enough on paper, but less so when the person you want to befriend was tortured with electricity for seventy years and you're the god of lightning.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Anybody else still languishing after Endgame? I was kind of disappointed with certain factors and despite enjoying everything else, I can't stop thinking about it!
> 
> So I'm trying to dump as much of my fics out into the world as some weird form of dealing with that I guess. I always thought it would be interesting if an immediately post-WS Bucky met Thor, and wondered what he would think about the whole lightning control thing. It'd probably be nothing like this. :))

Thor was excited to be returning to his Midgardian friends, especially as one of their many festivals drew near. This one was a celebration of a strange rabbit called "Easter Bunny", which laid eggs. The eggs were enchanted, as they held not smaller rabbits but toys and treats. It was a custom for children to search for these eggs and claim the prizes inside. This was Sam's explanation, and Thor believed the man to be worthy of the utmost trust, as he was a friend of Steve, one of the more virtuous of his Midgardian friends.   
  
Sam was not the newest face Thor would find on this visit. Steve had found yet another ally, this one a bit of a puzzle to Thor. He was told the man was an old friend of Steve's, which was interesting in and of itself. Midgardians lived unfortunately brief lives, and Steve was an exception due to a combination of being frozen alive for decades and the powerful serum he'd been imbued with by a doctor. So it simply followed that any "old friend" of Steve's should have been quite advanced in age, yet this man looked to be roughly the same age(though admittedly Thor had trouble estimating the ages of Midgardians based on looks alone).   
  
Thor had met the man earlier that day in a brief encounter which proceeded thusly:  
  
He'd entered the common area, a room dedicated to gatherings and entertainment. Thor greatly enjoyed Midgardian forms of entertainment. Their sports were quaint(golf, table tennis) or at times quite vicious(rugby, Mario Party). Their games were sometimes similar enough to his people's own that it amused him to spot differences while they played. And their simulated forms of play were perhaps their crowning achievement in the area of entertainment-their "films" were far more absorbing than any play in spite of the actors not being present in the same room.   
  
Friday had announced Thor's arrival, so no one was quite surprised to see him. They were, however, warm in their greetings as they typically were. Midgardians were generally this way-enthusiastic, warm, welcoming. For the most part, at least. Sam explained there were those who were hostile towards people deemed as "different", something primarily to do with skin color or nationality or religion. Which struck Thor as strange, since Midgardians were Midgardians. Why would they treat each other so terribly over such differences? He theorized it was because they had no ice giants or trolls or any other such species to focus any prejudice on, as Asgardians did. So Midgardians found somewhat more minute and insignificant divisions to focus on.   
  
Not all of his teammates were present. Bruce Banner was absent. Wanda as well. Stark and Colonel Rhodes were in the Western North American United States state of California in the county of Los Angeles in the city of Malibu(the way Midgardians divided everything into smaller and smaller and still smaller divisions took some getting used to). Stark was a very wealthy man-yet he was not connected to any nobility, which was also strange. Natasha said that in America, the wealthy _were_ royalty, but they generally seemed to possess no valuable skills or leadership abilities or compassion which any good noble should exhibit. Stark was one of the few exceptions, apparently.   
  
A round of greetings were exchanged and it was then that anyone addressed the presence of the new face among their group. Steve gestured to the man beside him on the couch, who had been watching Thor cautiously since he first entered the room. "This is my friend, Bucky. Or James."  
  
"Ol' Jim-bo," Clint said.  
  
"Jimothy," Sam added.  
  
"Jimarino-"  
  
"Shut up," Natasha said in her way without heat or intent of injury. Midgardians were fond of 'nicknames', various diminutives of one's birth name, or observations of traits one exhibited. It was one of the things Thor liked about them. Stark was perhaps best at giving them, though they were usually very puzzling.  
  
James did not seem to notice the discussion of his name, keeping his eyes squarely on Thor. He felt distinctly as though he were being analyzed, as one might do to an opponent in battle for signs of weakness or other openings for attack. It was not a comfortable feeling, but Thor was among his friends, who he trusted not to bring hostile individuals into their stronghold. "Greetings, James," he said instead, extending his hand. "Any friend of Steve's is a friend of mine."  
  
James shot his hand out immediately, nearly startling Thor into a defensive stance. But then they shook hands and Steve said, "Yeah, we're working on that one..."  
  
"You don't have to do it that fast man," Clint advised to a blinking James.  
  
"It isn't a damn round of whack-a-mole," Sam added. "His hand's not going anywhere."  
  
"When I shake hands slowly you said it is 'weird' and weird is undesirable," James said by way of explanation. His voice was soft and stilted, as one who is unused to speaking his mind. Or, perhaps at all.  
  
"You just have to find that middle ground," Steve said. "You'll get it." Steve glanced back at Thor. He rubbed the back of his neck. "He's kind of new to, um..." He waved his hand as he searched for a word.  
  
"Human interaction?" Sam offered.  
  
"Social norms," Natasha corrected.  
  
Thor smiled broadly to show not only his understanding but his intimate familiarity with this exact problem. "I know such trials very well myself!" he said. "Perhaps sometime I could share with you what I have learned!"  
  
"I would pay _so_ much money to witness that," Sam said in a low voice.   
  
"He's an alien, you know," Clint said to James. Alien was the word Midgardians used for creatures and peoples which did not originate on their planet. Interestingly enough, the word long predated any evidence of actual aliens, humans having for decades imagined visitors from beyond their world in a variety of different incarnations. While Asgardians had once met Midgardians centuries ago, the people at the time were very primitive, and called them gods instead, for reasons which Clint then elaborated on: "Shoots lightning out of his eyeballs."  
  
James stiffened immediately at that. Steve rolled his eyes and said, "He doesn't shoot it out of his eyeballs."  
  
"Indeed," Thor said to James. "I would prefer not to mislead you about my capabilities should it cause misunderstandings in the heat of battle. I can summon and command lightning with my hammer, but I do not eject it from any orifices."  
  
"None?" Clint asked, raising an eyebrow. "Have you tried all of them?"   
  
"Lightning," James echoed and that was when Thor noticed that the man was not startled by this the way most other Midgardians were when they heard. He would no longer meet Thor's eye, or even the general direction of his face. Instead he seemed to withdraw slightly, as if to make himself a smaller target. He took two sharp breaths through his nose, as if building up the courage to do something, before he stood up abruptly and said, "I'm going now. Bye." And he did just that.   
  
Steve looked over his shoulder to watch James go but said nothing to stop him. When he was out of sight, Steve said, "Don't take it personally. He's had..." Steve paused then, lips flattening into a straight line as he searched for the words. Finally he said, as if tossing the words at Thor to have them disposed of, "A rough life."  
  
"Yeah man, he avoided Bruce for the entire week they were here together once he found out he was a doctor," Clint added. "I found him in one of my favorite vents once. Had to find a new place to chill out."  
  
"Oh what, like a bed or a couch? Somewhere, you know, actually comfortable?" Sam said.  
  
"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. It's very peaceful."   
  
Thor had to side with Sam on this argument. Largely because he could not fit into the air vents to try hiding in one. But it seemed rather cramped. He offered a smile to Steve instead. "It is fine. I'm sure in time we will become good friends."   
  
Sam snorted. "Good thing you're basically immortal."  
  
Thor had always been one for meeting challenges, and this was a unique one. He'd met very few people who did not warm up to him sooner or later, Asgardians and Midgardians alike. Save those who hated him, of course, but those were his enemies. James was to be an ally, so surely they could bond over _something_.   
  
However, what Clint mentioned about James' rigorous avoidance of Bruce seemed to be coming true again. Thor went three days without catching sight of James, in spite of seeing everyone else on a more regular basis. He'd even stationed himself in the kitchen for an entire day, studiously refusing to leave, which led to the consumption of entirely too much Midgardian food(which was nearly always delicious, so he couldn't quite complain about it). Not once did James come to the kitchen, not even for water. This made it plain that James would not come to him. He would have to find James instead. Which proved difficult enough.   
  
So he would enlist the aid of his allies.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter features the movie Return to Oz, which I loved as a child, but apparently is quite horrifying to some people? According to my friends I made watch it anyway :)) 
> 
> You can see the Wheelers in action [here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MLVfQOknYM)
> 
> And headless Princess Mombi and her collection of heads [here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnIdI8iiK1M)

He came upon Clint first. It was simple enough. One had only to wait by the coffee machine to catch him, as he returned to it frequently. They did not have coffee in Asgard. The beans grew in tropical climates which simply weren't present there. It was a bitter drink with rejuvenating properties, though, unfortunately, they did not effect Thor the way they effected normal Midgardians. Nonetheless, it was quite delicious with sugar and cream, even better when blended into something called a 'frappuccino'.   
  
Perhaps Thor was obvious in his intentions. He was not deceitful by nature-his brother having hogged that trait. So when Clint shambled into the common kitchen, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he hesitated briefly to look at Thor. He'd been waiting patiently, standing beside the machine, eating an Eggo Waffle. He smiled broadly when Clint looked at him. "Good morning!"  
  
"You, uh, you got a date or something?" Clint asked.  
  
"Not as such," Thor said. "I was hoping to gather intelligence from you." Undoubtedly Natasha would say this was a 'bad idea' but Clint was the easiest person to catch as he would never pass up a visit to the coffee machine.   
  
"From me?" Clint echoed as he poured his coffee into a mug which read ' _Coffee isn't working...Get the jumper cables!'_ A peculiar example of Midgardian humor, he suspected. Jumper cables were ropes one spun around and jumped over as a form of exercise. Perhaps this was considered more invigorating than drinking coffee. _  
  
_"Indeed. I would like to learn the best manner in which to befriend James."  
  
Clint made a noise that sounded like, _huh._ Then he scooped some sugar into his drink and began to stir. "He's a tough nut to crack, you know. Might take awhile."  
  
"I am no stranger to challenges."   
  
"Yeah, I met your brother," Clint mumbled tiredly, topping his drink off with creamer. Thor frowned, still very much regretting what Loki had done to this world, to his friends. It'd never feel like he'd done enough to make up for it. Clint took a noisy sip of the coffee and closed his eyes briefly before finally turning them to Thor. He did not yet look more alert. It generally took two cups of coffee for that process to begin. "But okay. You tried talking to him?"  
  
"I have not seen him since we were introduced."  
  
Clint's lips pressed together and to one side. "Hm. He can be kind of, uh, shy I guess. So don't take it personally. When he first got here, he didn't speak to anybody but Steve, Sam, and Natasha for like two weeks."  
  
Thor furrowed his brow. "This is normal behavior for a Midgardian?" Everyone he'd met in his travels here would make him think otherwise. They generally were quite animated, friendly. Even those who were initially more reserved, such as Bruce and Natasha, still spoke to others.  
  
"No, but he hasn't exactly had a normal life," Clint explained. "He was held prisoner for a long time. Seventy years, I think. And uh, wasn't treated too well. Forced to do some heinous shit."  
  
Thor knew that in Midgardian terms, seventy years was quite long. Nearly an entire one of their lifetimes. This confused him further. "He does not age. Like Steve?"  
  
Clint nodded his head from side to side, a gesture which belied some degree of uncertainty but not much. "Think so, yeah. Or he does it way slower. They juiced him up with some knock off serum and froze him alive sometimes." Clint shrugged. "It's all really fucked up, to be honest with you."  
  
"Indeed." Thor, obviously, did not know the entire story, but what little Clint had shared sounded horrible. It did not cease to amaze him, the cruelties Midgardians visited upon one another.   
  
"But hey," Clint said with a shrug. "You wanna make friends. That's good. He could use more friends, I guess. So let's focus on that instead of all the...other garbage." Clint took a sip of his coffee, eyes closing briefly. "My advice is to get Steve to get him out of hiding from you. He listens to Steve."  
  
"I do not wish to force anyone's hand," he said.  
  
"Yeah. That's why you tempt him with things he likes so he'll want to come along," Clint said. "I'd suggest...a movie, maybe. Those are kind of still a novelty to him so he likes them a lot."  
  
Thor also enjoyed them. They were like plays, but even more elaborate and impressive. With Clint's advice and Steve's help, he was sure to win James' respect and friendship soon enough. He clapped Clint on the back, careful of his own strength as he'd caused an accident with a hot cup of coffee the last time he'd done that. "Many thanks."   
  
He discussed his plan for a movie with Steve, and Steve was of course receptive. Being quite ignorant of films himself, he asked Steve for suggestions, particularly of something that would appeal to James. Steve thought hard and said, "Well, it's hard to know what he likes sometimes. I can try to take a guess."  
  
"Do your best."  
  
"You know about the Wizard of Oz?"  
  
"No," Thor said. "Have they also joined the team?" The more the merrier, he figured, but he'd never heard of Oz and he was very knowledgeable of the various realms of the universe.  
  
"Uh. No. It's the name of a movie."  
  
"Ah."  
  
"It came out in '39. Um. Back before I was frozen and all that," Steve explained. "I rewatched it with Bucky, to see if he remembered it. It was kind of a big deal when it came out because movies were all in black and white and this one was in color. Anyway, I mean, he kind of remembered it." Here Steve paused and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, he remembered the red shoes, and that's it. But I heard they made other Oz movies, so maybe we could watch the next one?"  
  
"Fantastic!" Thor said, happy to have a good suggestion. And if it involved wizards, perhaps it would be entertaining. Midgardian depictions of magic were sometimes humorous due to their ignorance of actual magic. "I shall ask Friday to debrief me on the 39 Wizard of Oz film." Debrief was a word he'd learned from Midgardians. He liked to use their lingo when he could, to show that he knew it.  
  
"Okay. You can just call it Wizard of Oz, though. She'll know what you mean, I think."  
  
He did just that, listening as Friday explained the plot, and even watched a few clips on YouTube. There was a lot of singing. He saw the red shoes Steve mentioned, which turned out to be enchanted to grant wishes. An evil witch was destroyed by a mere bucket of water, which may have been the most amusing thing in the film, from what he saw. Witches were _much_ more durable than that. Midgardians had such strange notions about reality sometimes but it was something he looked on affectionately, like a dog carrying a stick that was too large to allow passage through a door.   
  
In the afternoon, the three of them gathered in Steve's room. "Greetings!" he called to James, who flinched when he spoke. He lowered his voice in an attempt to mollify him. "I am quite excited to partake in another Midgardian film."  
  
James stared at him as if he might miss something vital should he even so much as blink, but he said nothing.  
  
"Bucky, Thor's going to watch the movie with us. I hope that's okay," Steve said.  
  
James said nothing.   
  
"I have brought Jolly Ranchers!" He held up the bag of candies. They were colorful little pellets that were rock hard and Thor enjoyed the way they crunched when you bit through them. Apparently they were intended to be sucked on until they became more fragile but that was less enjoyable when you could crush them to pieces immediately. James looked away, down at his feet, and Thor's arm dropped slightly. Perhaps he'd chosen an unappealing candy.   
  
"Never had those before," Steve said, clearly trying to make the encounter less awkward for Thor and James. He waved Thor in and took the bag of candy to open it and pour out the pieces on the coffee table. They were each wrapped tightly in a material called plastic which Midgardians were obsessed with. Plastic was everywhere on this planet but was inedible.   
  
Thor didn't really like these candies having plastic because it slowed him down as he had to unwrap each piece before he could throw a handful in his mouth. "Ah, you're sure to enjoy them then."   
  
Steve picked one of each color out of the pile, then held them out to James. "Try each one and tell me what you liked best."  
  
James took them without looking back and clutched them tightly.   
  
Steve dropped down onto one end of the couch, and Thor sat on the other. He had to be careful of dropping into Midgardian furniture, as it was not built as durable as Asgardian pieces. It didn't have to last thousands of years, after all. "Okay, Friday?"   
  
"Yes Captain."  
  
"Can you put on the next Oz movie?" Steve asked.   
  
"Of course, sir."   
  
The film began and Thor watched while his hands worked at unwrapping as many Jolly Ranchers as he could. He glanced over at James, who sat rigidly at first, as if all too aware of his presence. So Thor tried to not look at him at all, just in case he noticed.   
  
"That is not the same woman," Thor said when Dorothy Gale was introduced. "She is much smaller in this."  
  
"This came out almost fifty years later so...they couldn't exactly use the same actress," Steve explained.  
  
"Ah, of course," he said, feeling like a fool for forgetting Midgardian's short lifespans.   
  
"More accurate to the books, actually," Steve added. "Dorothy's supposed to be a little girl."  
  
They watched. Dorothy was believed to be suffering from mental disorders due to her fantastical stories of Oz. No one believed she had been there, and so, they grew concerned for her well-being. Midgardians believed just about everyone suffered from mental disorders, and this made sense. Their world seemed very stressful to live in.   
  
Dorothy was taken to a doctor who would use electricity to fix her. Thor had no idea how that would work, but again, there was much about Midgard he didn't understand. As the doctor explained how his electrical machine would help her, he noticed Steve stiffening up a little. He glanced to the side and saw him in turn glancing at James. Of course, James was still as tense as he'd been since Thor came in, eyes glassy as he watched the movie and left fist still clenched around the candy he'd been given.   
  
Thor tried to keep his attention on the film, again concerned that he'd cause issues if he kept studying the others the whole time. Eventually the girl escaped the doctor with the help of another little girl and was whisked away back to Oz. There she found a great city in ruins and was attacked by some grotesque creatures called Wheelers. She became friends with a mechanical soldier, and went to confront the apparent leader of the Wheelers, a princess named Mombi.  
  
This segment was quite horrifying, as the princess turned out to be a witch who stole women's heads from their bodies so she could wear them as her own. She locked Dorothy Gale away in a tower so that she could one day harvest her head. There, Dorothy met a pumpkin-headed creature made of sticks who helped her devise a plan to escape. This involved returning back to the hall of disembodied heads and stealing a magical powder. Of course, Dorothy woke the sleeping witch, and the heads began to all howl and scream while the headless body of the witch scrambled after her. At this point Steve muttered under his breath, "Jesus." But he didn't stop the film.  
  
It continued on, Dorothy escaping to confront the true cause of all the problems in Oz, the Gnome King. He looked like no gnome Thor had ever encountered, instead more like a man made of rocks. He had stolen the enchanted slippers to turn everyone in Oz to stone. Of course, the heroes prevailed and defeated the Gnome King, restoring the people of Oz to life.  
  
The credits began-a list of every single person who'd worked on the film, which was several times larger than the amount of people who typically worked on Asgardian plays. Steve took a breath before saying, "That was...something."  
  
"An intriguing successor to the 39 Wizard of Oz," Thor announced. "There was much less singing."  
  
"Yeah. It was real, uh, different," Steve said. "Friday? Can you take all the other future Oz movies out of my queue?"  
  
"Yes, sir, Captain."  
  
Thor frowned. This indicated that the film was no good, which wasn't Thor's intention. Of course, he hadn't chosen the movie, but still. The whole point of this exercise was to get James to like him, and he couldn't do that if they watched movies that left a bad impression. He looked over at James and asked, "What did you think, friend?" He may have been a bit forward using that word but he so desperately wanted it to be true that it slipped out.   
  
James stared at him for a moment before shoving all five unwrapped Jolly Ranchers in his mouth at once. Thor had no idea what that meant, but Steve caught his eye and gave him a sympathetic look. An expression that told him not to worry about the snub. He tried not to. There had to be a way to get to James, to show him Thor was his friend. But movies probably weren't the best choice.

 


End file.
